How much of a "screw the arrogant corporation" attitude do you have?
There is no law that says you have to ship a handgun overnight or 2nd day, that is FedEx and UPS policy. You cannot ship USPS, that is the law.
FedEx and UPS employees are thieves. Instead of fixing the thievery, they instituted policies that handguns must be shipped overnight or 2nd day since that involves fewer people handling the package and hence less chance for theft. "Our employees are thieves and we want you to pay for that."
I've shipped every handgun I've ever sold via FedEx ground, going on close to a dozen or more now. I create and pay for a shipping label online and attach it to a plain brown box inside of which the handgun is securely wrapped and padded. Walk into the FedEx hub, place the plain brown prepaid box on the counter and say, "this is all set to go" and walk out. They have never complained or asked me what's in the box. It becomes one of several millions of similarly sized boxes they ship successfully every day.
Some will question what happens in case of a lost or damaged package when trying to collect the insurance and say that FedEx or UPS will categorically deny the claim because you haven't followed their policy. I do not know the answer to that, they've never lost one on me and I've never heard of someone with an actual experience like that - where they shipped a handgun via ground, FedEx lost it and asked what is it, we'll pay for it, the shipper said "a handgun" and FedEx/UPS said "oh, well then GFY". I'm willing to risk it, some others aren't.
So, back to my first sentence.
As an adjunct to this, I usually sell firearms price plus actual shipping, then offer several means of shipping to the buyer. Most of them choose the $17-$18 FedEx ground with insurance over the $75 or so for overnight or 2nd day. But I leave it up to them, if they are uncomfortable with ground then I will happily take their money to ship the more expensive ways.
I had a custom, engraved, S&W 624 stolen out of UPS on its way back to me from being engraved by S&W. On the advice of Roy Jenks, I specifically directed S&W to insure it for a specified amount and to charge me for the insurance. They ignored my directions and shipped it back to me uninsured, as their policy at that time was to replace lost/stolen/damaged firearms with a comparable current production item of their choosing. The 624 had been out of production when this happened, so after months of unpleasantness, I received an engraved 629 Hunter. I never liked that handgun and have never shot it, opting instead to have another 624 customized, but didn't contract with S&W to do the engraving this time. The point being that firearms do get stolen and if they are miss represented in any way, the common carrier will find justification not to pay you for your loss.
Okay, let me make sure I understand the story here.
S&W shipped a 624 back to you uninsured.
That revolver was stolen. Specifically how did they know it was stolen and not merely lost in transit? I'd certainly allow that stolen is the likely possibility but I'm curious how they determined it was deliberate theft and not accidental loss. That's not really germane to the discussion, I'm just curious.
After some period of time, S&W sent you a 629 Hunter as a replacement which arrived safely but which you did not like.
From this you conclude that if a firearm is misrepresented in any way, the common carrier will find justification not to pay you.
How could UPS pay you for an uninsured item? FWIW, the shipper has to file the claim.
Was the revolver sent by S&W via ground shipment or was it sent next day or 2nd day air? This is the entire subject of my first post, btw.
Since S&W was the shipper, did S&W misrepresent the item when they shipped it and if so, what was it represented as?
Do you know for a fact that S&W did or did not receive payment from UPS for their uninsured goods?
Based on this anecdote, I will stand by my original statement that "I've never heard of someone with an actual experience like that - where they shipped a handgun via ground, FedEx lost it and asked what is it, we'll pay for it, the shipper said "a handgun" and FedEx/UPS said "oh, well then GFY".
I am sure an occasional box is stolen by employees of FedEx and UPS but the truth here is, I don't know what they will do in the specific case of shipping a fully insured handgun via ground shipment if it is lost or stolen and apparently you don't have first hand experience of this either. If there are more facts here you haven't revealed then I would love to hear them and may or may not revise my opinion based on them.
My one anecdote with damaged goods was with a Ruger Model 77 that arrived with a cracked stock. As much as I like Rugers their "shipping box" is a joke which provides little protection beyond the basic cardboard box. Be that as it may, the gunbroker seller who had advertised it as "shipped insured" carefully did not say "shipped fully insured", so it only carried the normal $100 worth of insurance that comes with every UPS shipment.
I contacted UPS about this, they took down some information that it was a firearm with a cracked stock and sent a claim form to the shipper, who is the one who has to file the claim, not the recipient. The seller made good on the broken stock by sending me a replacement, I don't know if he ever got his $100 from UPS or not.